Sanitas Radio | Because your health and longevity should not be classified information.

Monday, September 1, 2014

The complete guide to getting yourself to like healthy food

It would be great if instead of
chocolate, you regularly craved vegetables. And it actually can happen—you just
have to stop eating the chocolate and start eating the vegetables.

In a study released today,
researchers from Tufts University and Massachusetts General Hospital found
that changes in eating habits eventually changed the foods people prefer.

The researchers took MRIs of the
study subjects, all healthy adults who were overweight or obese, measuring
their reactions to images of unhealthy, high-calorie foods like fruit cereal
and french fries, as well as healthier, low-calorie foods like baked salmon and
an egg-white omelette. Then, for six months, the participants followed the
Instinct Diet, created by one of the study’s authors, Susan Roberts. (She also
wrote the book The Instinct Diet and
is co-founder of the iDiet program.)

The study subjects were
responsible for preparing their own food but followed the guideline’s menus and
recipes, which combine carbohydrates low on the glycemic index with more fiber
and protein. Those foods lead to slower digestion and more stable levels
of blood glucose—it’s the spikes and crashes that drive you to crave and eat
unhealthy foods. After six months, the scientists showed the subjects the same
images. By then, the subjects had developed more of a preference for the
healthy foods than they had shown at the start, and less of a preference for
the unhealthy foods.

So if you’re trying to change
your eating habits, there’s hope. Here are some tips from nutrition experts: